Champagne Cookie Rattles

I love any excuse to bake, and one of the ladies that I work with getting ready to go on maternity leave so I wanted to bake something cute and adorable for her. I haven’t been at this job for very long and haven’t baked for them much. I had done cupcakes, brownies and mini cheesecakes so I wanted to maybe make something different.When I bake for work I like to make sure it’s in individual portions so that there is less handling required and people can just pick it up out of the container without needing cutlery or even a plate most the time. I have found over time that smaller portions are also a lot better, especially for sweeter things. Everyone wants to be healthy, and a small bite is always a more tempting than a big one!These are the criteria I had to work with.- She knew she was having a baby girl so I definitely wanted to make them pink- One of the guys in the office has given the unborn baby the nickname “Bubbles” so I wanted to somehow fit that into the finished product- I wanted to make the whole item something baby relatedThe obvious answer was to buy a cookie cutter, but I don’t like to buy things that I won’t use regularly. So I started thinking about baby things; pram, teddy bear, diapers, dummies, rattles. Oooh! RATTLES! Maybe I make cake pops and make them look like rattles? Only problem, I don’t have a cake pop machine and as much as I would LOVE a new toy, time and money just wasn’t going to let that happen.ok, so what about cookies? Round them nicely, put a stick in them and a bow around the stick? Perfect!Well almost perfect, I still hadn’t worked out how to incorporate bubbles… hmm … champagne cookies? Yep, done.

Yes there is actual champagne in these but don’t worry about the alcohol as it gets cooked out in the oven.Ok, shopping time! We’re going to need …- 2 ½ cups champagne (I just bought the cheapest champagne I could get at my local bottle shop, no need for anything fancy)- 2 cups flour (this may vary depending on the champagne)- 1 teaspoon baking powder- 1 cup white sugar- 50g vegetable shortening (this is called Copha in Australia) It needs to be soft when you use it, so think about getting it out of the fridge ahead of time so it can come to room temperature.For the icing …- Icing sugar- Water (you can use milk, but using water means the icing will harden and I like this better for cookies)For the extra touches to my decorations I bought skewers, some pink ribbon and some marshmallows to use as the bottom of the rattle.Now we put on our favourite baking music, turn the oven on to 190 degrees Celsius, get out our flat baking tray, spread out some baking paper on it and get ready to bake!

There are a lot of steps in this recipe, but I promise its easy!Cookies first …

Before starting the cookies, put the skewers into a bowl of water. This is because we are going to put them in the oven and the water keeps the wood from catching fire. Safety first! You may also need to cut the skewers a little smaller, depending on the look you are going for.

Beat the shortening and sugar together until it is well combined and creamy.

Pour in the champagne and mix on a low speed for about one minute. It will be lumpy and kind of strange looking so don’t panic!

Now add the baking powder, and mix.

Next is for the flour and, yup you guessed it, mix! Add this in small portions so that you don’t get covered in flour and so that you can keep an eye on the texture of the mixture. You want to aim for a doughy mixture, you want it to stay together in one ball and the bowl to be clean from any of the dough. I find that as it gets thicker I need to swap to mixing by hand with my trusty wooden spoon, it’s a good workout too!

You may find that 2 ½ cups is not enough flour, so just keep adding until you get the desired texture but in small amounts so that you don’t go too far and dry out the mixture.

When you are happy with the consistency, now is time to add any extras like food colouring or sprinkles.

Take a small amount of your dough, I used about a 3-4cm clump, and roll it into a neat ball. Place it on the baking tray and flatten with either with the heel of your palm or the bottom of a glass. Take one of the skewers and gently insert it into the dough. I found that the skewers that were pushed further into the cookies held on better.

Repeat this step until your dough is all gone, or your tray is full. You may need to cook in multiple batches to fit all the dough.

Bake in the preheated oven for 14-18 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies. You want them to be a little bit browned on the edges and crisp to touch.

Let them cool on the tray for a minute before moving to a rack to finish cooling

While the cookies are cooling, I like to do the icing.Icing is always better to start with small amounts and make more as you need. It is the perfect example of less is more.

Start with around ½ cup of icing in bowl, give it a gentle mix to break down the clumps

Add one tablespoon of water and mix well

Keep adding water, one teaspoon at a time, until you get a thick consistency that will be easy to mould and work with.

Add food colouring, also an example of less is more. One drop of food colouring goes a long way.

When the cookies are cooled you can start icing. This part is simple; use a knife to spread a small amount on each cookie. Be as precise or as messy as you like!For this particular recipe, I added drops food colouring to the icing as I iced more cookies so I had a range of shades of pink on my cookies.When the icing was set, I cut up my ribbon into 20cm lengths and tied them in bows around the skewers. Finally, I put a marshmallow on the bottom of the stick to complete the look.I was so unbelievably excited with how these turned out. Definitely one of the best looking things I have ever baked.

Let me know what you think and I would love to see your photos either below or over on my Instagram @nerdylittlebaker